Between the Light and the Darkness
by Solarium360
Summary: After the defeat of Darkseid, the Justice League and its allies get embroiled in a war between Humanity and aliens from galaxies beyond the Local Group Cluster after an astronomical phenomenon takes place in the Milky Way. (Possible bxb/gxg/bxg fluff moments! Rating might change from 'T' to 'M!)
1. Prologue

"You fools just never learn, do you?" Darkseid spoke indignantly at the Justice League and their allies as his command ship was currently being ravaged by the naval forces of New Genesis and Tamaran. "You will not stop me from acquiring the Anti-Life Equation. Not you, or anyone in the whole universe."

"Give it up, Darkseid!" Superman declared, dropping a Parademon that he knocked out on the floor. "You have lost."

Darkseid didn't respond. At least, not with words. He gave a menacing chuckle that made the heroes of Earth stand on edge as his eyes shimmered a mixture of white and red, warning them that he was about to use his Omega Beam without restraint.

"Oh, Kal-El," Darkseid finally spoke, slowly and menacing while glaring at him. "This is just the beginning."

He widened his eyes and fired his Omega Beam, smiling sinisterly as the heroes moved quickly from their position to avoid being hit by the zig-zagging dual lasers. His smile faulted, however, as the lasers missed the heroes and landed on two Parademons that came through the door. He teleported from his throne into the air and smashed his fists on the ground, lifting debris in the process as few heroes scrambled out of the way, preparing for the ensuing battle ahead.

One by one they went against him. Batman threw batarangs that exploded on his face as Green Arrow and Red Arrow each shot arrows at him-one exploding on his left shoulder, and the other turning into a boxing glove that hit him in the face. Beast Boy morphed into a tiger and Vixen mimicked a cheetah, both of them lunging at Darkseid as the smoke cleared, managing to scratch his arms and chest severely. But Darkseid recover quickly and he teleported, taking both heroes by surprise as he punched Vixen twice, sending her flying towards Dr. Fate and evading Beast Boy for a bit until he caught him by the throat and pummeled him on the ground, where he morphed back on his original form and struggled to breath.

"Is that all you got?" Darkseid taunted at his adversaries. "It will take a lot more for me to fall, and for you to outlast me."

As quick as he finished speaking, Raven covered Darkseid with black energy and lifted him before throwing him at a wall, making a hole in it as Starfire flew to catch Beast Boy in time. She landed near Zatanna and placed Beast Boy in the ground, all while he took deep breaths and coughed as he regained his voice.

Wonder Woman threw her lasso at Darkseid, landing on his left wrist just as Wonder Girl wrapped her own lasso onto his other wrist, incapacitating him to move his arms long enough for Hawkgirl to hit him hard in the face with her mace. Darkseid grabbed both lassos and pulled forward, making both heroines clash into Hawkgirl and being sent flying across the room. The Green Lanterns - John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan - combined their rings and formed a fist construct, hitting Darkseid with full force that led to part of the wall crumble on top of him.

"Did we get the bastard?" Red Hood asked, reloading his gun as everyone remained in a defensive stance.

Nightwing stood next to Superhuman, eskrima sticks in hand as he spoke, "I think it's safe to say that we-"

The sudden burst of debris interrupted Nightwing as the Flash got him and Superman out of the area just as Darkseid rose from the ground, rage filling his eyes and snarl coming out of his mouth. He panted and glared at the heroes.

"He is quite persistent, is he not?" Starfire said, her hands glowing with neon green starbolts just as Supergirl landed beside her.

"You said it, girl," she said, her eyes glowing red as she fired lasers at Darkseid.

Darkseid managed to evade the lasers a minute too late, just as Superman, Red Robin and Nightwing began to attack him from all sides-Superman punching heavily on the face, Nightwing hitting him in the back with his sticks, and Red Robin in the legs with his bo staff. The three of them almost managed to subdue him, only to fail as Darkseid swung an arm, effectively hitting the three heroes and pinning the rest on the walls.

"I grow tired of this," Darkseid spoke, landing a foot on top Red Robin's chest as he prepared to deploy his Agony Matrix on him. "I'll just kill you all. Starting with this weakling."

Superboy managed to free himself and stumbled on the ground. Rage was seething through his body and he lunged at him, drawing his right fist back as he delivered a punch to Darkseid's face, powerful enough that it sent him flying through the wall and brake three more. He rushed towards Red Robin, whom was clutching his chest, and lifted him slowly, carrying him with one of his arms over his back while holding the other one.

"You alright?" Superboy asked, worry filling his face.

"Yeah," Red Robin gasped, giving him a sly smile. "Thanks to you."

Superboy smiled and carried Red Robin near Kid Flash just as Martian Manhunter telepathically attacked Darkseid, getting near to subdue his mind until he got caught in Darkseid's Agony Matrix. He struggled with the immediate pain while Red Hood shot his pistols at Darkseid, the bullets either breaking upon contact or missing him. Miss Martian density-shifted herself and Red Hood through the floor just as Darkseid fired another Omega Beam at them, only to miss them a second time and disintegrated another Parademon in the room. Dr. Light fired a ray of light at him and Darkseid crossed his arms in front of his chest, walking slowly towards her while struggling with the intense beam. He succumbed on the spot and breathed heavily for a few seconds before teleporting again and throwing a punch at Green Arrow, stunning him deliberately and sending him flying towards Black Canary. The weary heroes were reaching their breaking points at the moment.

"It is pointless to defeat me," Darkseid , a smirk creeping on his face as his army of Parademons swarmed them in a circle, their backs brushing one another with tension beating in their hearts. "Now you shall all die."

" _Azarath_ , _Metrion_ , _ZINTHOS_!" Raven shouted, summoning her Soul-Self and wreaking havoc all over the ship just as she formed a black dome around the heroes to protect them from her arcane outburst. Alarms blared throughout the ship, indicating severe damage has crippled the ship into a critical state while many Parademons shrieked as they were either knocked out by her telekinetic constructs or by the explosions happening all around them. She lowered the dome and stumbled back a bit, being grabbed by Red Arrow in the process.

Darkseid laid still on the ground, breathing but not moving effortlessly, relieving the heroes for a moment before a fire broke on the Command Center.

"Well, _this_ is another fine predicament that we all find ourselves in," Dr. Light said, covering her face as smoke spread across the room.

"I agree with you on that," Black Canary replied, coughing a bit as Hawkgirl shouted, "Everyone head to the hangar, now!"

Following instinctively behind her, the Justice League and its allies made way towards the hangar bays of the ship, where several Javelins were stationed to exfiltrate them into a nearby friendly sector. Soon, the transports flew off from the warship towards a safe distance until only one remained. Red Robin started the engines of the transport while Impulse, Blue Beetle, Dr. Fate, Cyborg and Superman defended the area from the remaining Parademons in the wide-spaced area. They succeeded and most of them boarded the spacecraft until Darkseid teleported in the area and grabbed Impulse by the neck before he could get in. The others were alarmed and exited the ship to help him.

"IMPULSE!" Blue Beetle shouted, pulling out his sonic cannon just as Cyborg did the same as well. Dr. Fate hovered above them with arcane energy coursing through his hands.

"If I go down... I'll take one of you with me," Darkseid sneered, gritting his teeth as he strangled Impulse with one hand.

"You're not taking anyone with you!" Superman said, flying faster towards the two and hitting Darkseid in the chest, sending him flying into the wall and picking Impulse up to the ship. Darkseid tried to stand up once more when, at that moment, it happened.

Dr. Fate casted an energy blast at the same time Blue Beetle fired a sonic wave and Cyborg a sonic blast. The impact of the three shots combined was powerful enough that it destroyed everything on its path right to where the core of Darkseid's ship was established, causing a meltdown everywhere around them and more explosions within the ship. The remaining heroes fled the warship and reunited with their companions just as the Watchtower began to make contact with them.

" _This is the Watchtower. All Javelins report in. Over._ "

" _Watchtower, this is Javelin 137, standing by. Over._ "

" _This is Javelin 463, standing by. Over._ "

" _This is Javelin 751, standing by. Over._ "

" _This is Javelin 628, standing by. Over._ "

"Watchtower, this is Javelin 532. All Javelins are accounted for. Activating the warp drive to friendly space. Over," Red Robin spoke, typing the coordinates on the console just as the New Genesis and Tamaranean warships jumped to lightspeed towards their homeworlds. Darkseid's warship formed arcs of energy around itself before it exploded, releasing a powerful energy wave that was headed for the heroes.

" _Everyone, brace for impact!_ " Batman shouted in the communicator, the energy wave coursing through with tremendous force just as debris spread across the empty space, occasionally either scratching or colliding the ships that were in the way. The transports rattled compulsively to the wave until they were shielded by the energy ring of the three Green Lanterns along with Raven's magic. Moments later, the ships were stabilized into hovering mode.

"BOOYAH! We managed to kick Darkseid's butt!" Cyborg shouted through the communicator, lifting both of his arms in the air as the majority of them celebrated their victory.

"You may be right about that," Superman said. "But I have a feeling this won't be the last time we'll see of him."

" _Oh, lighten up, Big Blue,_ " Flash spoke. " _He won't be troubling everyone for a few years now! Cherish the victory!_ "

Superman sighed for a bit until he smiled to him. "Very well, then. Watchtower, this is Superman. Do we have clearance for warp speed or not? Over."

" _This is the Watchtower. You are all clear for warp speed. I repeat, you are all clear for warp speed. Over._ "

" _Copy that, Watchtower. Over and out,_ " Stargirl spoke. " _Alright, everyone, here we go!_ "

The transports moved into a V-shaped formation and began to light up their propellers. One by one they went as each ship formed a wormhole that would take the heroes back home on Earth and leave the conflict zone, ending the feud between them and Apokolips once more.

* * *

However, unbeknownst to them, this course of events have sparked a galactic war between Humanity and unknown alien races that come from beyond the Milky Way Galaxy…


	2. Chapter 1: Assembly of Heroes

**~ _One year later_ ~**

" _Watchtower, this is Javelin 893, requesting permission to land. Over._ "

" _Javelin 893, this is the Watchtower. Permission granted. Proceed to Hangar Bay 4, LP D-9. Over._ "

" _Copy that, Watchtower. Over and out._ "

The Watchtower, a colossal space station on Earth's orbit and primary base of the Justice League, drifted slowly in the vast, empty vacuum of space as the Sun began to cover the American continents with streaks of light. Several Javelins and civilian transports flew back and forth - some headed towards the planet, others at interplanetary colonies and few landing on nearby warships or shipyards, all under the watchful presence of the station.

Inside the spacecraft were Red Tornado, Red Robin, Superboy, Beast Boy, Raven and Wildebeest, all discussing about their latest mission as they landed in the designated landing pad of the hangar and made their way to the Promenade Area after exiting the Javelin.

"... and then I was, like, ' _DUUUDE! YOU MADE 'EM INTO STREET PUDDING!_ ' while Rachel and Tim were dealing with Billy Numerous inside the bank," Beast Boy spoke, waving his arms and jumping slightly around as he walked. "Man, S.B., you really can pack a punch!"

"You're exaggerating things a little, Gar," Superboy said, raising an eyebrow at his teammate. "There's no way I could do something like that. Not in this lifetime, anyway."

"Really?" Red Robin inquired. "That's odd, coming from the Boy of Steel who almost squashed Gorilla Grodd like a bug too many times in the past."

Superboy turned his head sharply at Red Robin. "That's because he always gets inside my mind and brainwashes me whenever I leave my guard down." He then averted his gaze on the ground, not looking at his closest friend as he thought, ' _Especially when you're around me_ '.

"I see," Red Tornado spoke, his head turned to Beast Boy. "Still, you could've been killed had Wildebeest not showed up and offered his assistance to take down Mammoth."

Wildebeest gave a complimented grunt as he ruffled Beast Boy's hair, indicating to Red Tornado that he was both glad to have helped and being in the vicinity by mere coincidence. This earned him a chuckle from Beast Boy.

"There was no need to do so," Raven spoke, floating next to Red Robin. "They're so dull that their brains can't even handle a bit of magick."

"Whoa, dude! I didn't know Raven could be so snarky," Beast Boy said, a grin plastered on his face as he wrapped an arm around her. "I like this side of her better than the other one."

"Do you want to see my _other_ side, Beast Boy?" Raven said, her eyes darkening slowly as her aura became slightly visible around her body.

"Uh... right... no thank you," Beast Boy said, stepping away from her and hiding behind Wildebeest.

"Well, we're here," Red Tornado said, stopping in front of the panel door just as it opened upward with a minimal hissing sound, signaling them to enter the room. "Probably a bit late, though."

The Promenade Area's atmosphere was a lively one as it came to be filled with other heroes and associates - some flying, others sitting down on the floor, and few leaning on the walls - as well as staff crews operating the consoles and all manner of communication feeds either through a relay network or a holographic projection in the window-screen of the station in the adjacent Control Deck. Above them stood the Conference Room, where the elite members of the Justice League, also known as the Founding Members, held meetings regarding the administration of the organization and its operations. These members include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (currently Hal Jordan), the Flash, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, and Martian Manhunter. The eight heroes stood near the railing and watched with content (though Batman used his stoic expression to hide it) at the heroes that have assembled in the Watchtower.

"Greetings, everyone," Superman spoke as he looked at each hero in the eye. They all assembled in the center of the room as he continued, "A whole year has passed since the threat of Apokolips was averted thanks to each and everyone one of you. The U.N. congratulates all of you for protecting Earth and its colonies, as well as other systems against Darkseid."

Martian Manhunter stepped up and spoke, "Indeed. Thanks to all your efforts, we managed to halt Darkseid's influence on all the planets that he has conquered and freeing the peoples he subjugated under his regime. Therefore, the Justice League, along with its allies, has transcended from not only being Earth's protector but also to the Milky Way as a whole. We could not have done it without any of you, and for that, we, the Founding Members, thank you for your strength and valor in all the years the Justice League provided protection to Humanity and the races beyond Earth."

Many heroes and staff members applauded loudly as Martian Manhunter finished his speech. Miss Martian looked towards his uncle, whom returned the gaze, and gave him two thumbs up, which he responded with a smile. It was true – they all have saved Earth and other planets many times before. It was only a matter of time that many civilizations would come to recognize them as defenders of the Milky Way. It was an amazing feat that they have come to achieve.

"And now, down to business," Batman spoke as he stepped up. Once everyone calmed down, he continued his speech, "Joker, Bane and the Penguin have occupied Arkham Asylum and are attempting to access the storage units. GCPD's SWAT teams are trying to regain the asylum but are embroiled in a gunfight with Penguin's henchmen and are asking the League for help. Therefore, the following heroes that I'll mention will be joining me on this mission: Nightwing, Superboy, Aqualad, Artemis and Vixen."

Wonder Woman spoke next, "Moving on, Themyscira is under siege by Ares, the God of War. He, with the help of Faust and Tala, will try to open gates to Tartarus and release the formidable Titans into the world. Therefore, those who I will call upon will stand by my side on the battlefield: Shining Knight, Jinx, Batwoman and Power Girl. Hawkman, I'll require your assistance on this one."

Hakman nodded, "As you wish, Diana."

"Last but not least, we have a recon mission in Central Europe," Hawkgirl spoke. "U.N. satellites have picked up several unknown energy signatures emanating from an unidentified object in the Grisons Canton in Switzerland, altering the flora and wildlife within its range. The Swiss government has informed the E.U. that civilians in nearby villages have reported sightings of 'four-armed humanoid creatures with glowing blue eyes' alongside 'strange, round-shaped objects engulfed in purple light'. So far, no casualties have occurred but the government has urged the U.N. for our involvement to investigate these claims."

Superman spoke, "Which is why Hawkgirl and I selected four heroes to accompany us to this mission. The following include: Beast Boy, Red Robin, Bumblebee and Zatanna. We'll be leaving in one hour."

Green Lantern levitated from the ground and spoke, "And with that, we conclude this assembly. Those of you who have patrol duty step right up and I'll coordinate with you alongside Martian Manhunter and Mr. Terrific."

"And those who have free time to spare, join me in the training area for some speed skills," Flash spoke, a smile widening his face as many heroes groaned at his futile remark. He let out a boisterous laugh as he continued, "I'm just joking! We'll be doing combat reassessment and a bit of competition afterwards."

"You know, you're lucky I have a mission to do today. If I hadn't accepted it, I would've slapped you with my wings for joking like that," Hawkgirl said, glaring at Flash with a mischievous smirk on her lips.

"You're welcome to try," Flash responded, grinning at the remark.

"Enough, you two," Superman interfered. "We got a lot in our plate today, so please don't kill each other, alright?"

Hawkgirl sighed, "Indeed. I shall beat your ass at another time, Barry."

Flash crossed his arms and smiled, "I'll be waiting until then."

And so, the heroes scattered around the Watchtower towards their destinations; those that were assigned with Wonder Woman and Hawkmen used the Teleporters to reach Themyscira in seconds; Batman and his team walked to the East Wing towards Hangar Bay 3, where they would mount on one of the Javelins available there and head towards Gotham City; and Hawkgirl and Superman's team walked to West Wing towards Hangar Bay 7, taking one Javelin as well and head over Switzerland. Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Mr. Terrific monitored the remaining heroes in their respective cities and Flash oversaw the training progress of those who joined him.

It was just another day in the office for the Justice League.

* * *

But like in every office, things will turn for the unexpected. And not always for the best...  
... just as they are about to find out soon enough...


	3. Chapter 2: Investigating the Object

"Wow! I can't believe we're having another mission today! And it's in Switzerland! I can't wait to see how it looks like!"

"I thought you traveled all of Europe when you were with the Doom Patrol, Gar."

"Heh, we only went to France, Tim. Maybe Romania as well. Anyway, that was during the time the Brotherhood of Evil was rising to power a few years ago."

"Huh. Well, I guess that makes sense."

Beast Boy smiled at Red Robin and turned his head to the window on his left, taking the view into blissful account. They were all currently flying over French-controlled airspace on their route to Switzerland, where they would assist the authorities with investigating the claims of the humanoids and the unidentified object. From his seat, he could see Superman and Hawkgirl talking in the communicators and, occasionally, with each other while Zatanna and Bumblebee were softly giggling on the other side of the ship. Beast Boy's curious mind was itching to know what they were saying but his gut told him not to meddle in their affairs, all in large part to the incident where he had mistaken Cyborg's charging equipment as a game system and caused him to have a virus in his system.

"At any rate, I'm sure you might feel the snow once we arrive to our destination," Red Robin said as he made several annotations on his holopad.

"Yeah," Beast Boy said, looking back at him. "And the forests, too! There might be some animals I could morph into!"

"Alright, calm down. I think that last thing we need is you becoming a lynx or a red deer of sorts."

"Hmph! You're no fun!"

"You just sound like Bart right now, you know?"

Beast Boy crossed his arms and looked back at the window, making Red Robin let out a sigh as he turned back to his holopad. Meanwhile, at the other side of the ship, Bumblebee and Zatanna were making a small ruckus as they told each other what they last week. They were currently having fits of laughter as Zatanna narrated about the time Artemis offered herself to be Wally's food tester one morning, which had turned out to be a bad idea. To say that things didn't go volatile between the two that day, it'd be the understatement of the century.

"... not only that, she didn't even hide her distaste of Wally's strawberry waffles," Zatanna said, trying her best not to laugh even though she was bad at it. "You should've seen her face that day!"

Bumblebee laughed, "OH... OH MY GOD... THIS IS SO GOOD TO LET IT SLIDE AWAY!"

"I KNOW, RIGHT?! AND THEN SHE DRANK AN ENTIRE CARTON GRAPE JUICE JUST TO GET RID OF THE TASTE! HAHAHA!"

"Man, Artemis sure knows how to brighten the mood sometimes" Bumblebee said, breathing heavily and wiping her tears from laughing a lot. Then she gave Zatanna a smirk and laid her elbow on the seat armrest.

Zatanna noticed this and lifted an eyebrow, "What?"

"You know what," Bumblebee said. "Have you told her yet or... did something interesting happened between you two?"

Zatanna tilted her head slightly in confusion, only to set it up straight and blush slightly after making sense on what Bumblebee asks. "Uh, no, I haven't told her yet."

Bumblebee sighed, "It's been three years now, Zatanna. When will you confess your feelings to her?"

Zatanna rubbed her hands as she spoke, "Soon, I promise. I just... don't know how to do it. Should we go out to a beach or be straightforward to her?"

"First one. Definitely the beach. It has a more romantic appeal than the other one."

"Ah! Thank you for advising me! I'll do it when we get back."

"No problem, girl! Best of luck!"

While everyone spoke to each other, Superman kept the Javelin in its flight path just as Hawkgirl listened to the transmissions emitted between the Swiss government and the Watchtower. He stretched his back on his seat and she looked up at how everyone was doing and the sky in front of her if a bird showed up at sight range. She turned back to the controls, however, as the console received a transmission from the Swiss Armed Forces.

"Clark, we're receiving a transmission from Dübendorf Air Base," she spoke, looking at Superman and putting on her communicator as well.

He nodded and looked back at the team and spoke, "Everyone, put on your seatbelts now. We're reaching the French-Swiss border in a few minutes."

Zatanna, Bumblebee and Beast Boy sat up straight in their seats and put on their belts while Red Robin just closed his holopad. Hawkgirl pressed the console and a holographic image appeared in the window-screen of the ship. The image revealed a middle aged man, whom bared scars all over his face and wore the uniform of the Air Force. His insignia reflected two stars, revealing that he was in command of the Air Force.

'Ugh... Those must've hurt a lot,' Beast Boy groaned mentally after observing the man in the screen. He unconsciously moved one hand to his left eye before lowering it back to his thigh.

" _Javelin 091, this is General Matteo Felix of the Swiss Air Force. Do you read me? Over._ "

Hawkgirl looked at the screen and spoke, "General Felix, this is Javelin 091. We read you loud and clear. We're 7 klicks northwest to the border. ETA is... 10 minutes out. Over."

The man sighed, " _Acknowledged. We've dispatched 2 jets to escort you to the landing zone. Patching coordinates now. Over._ "

"Received. What's the status on the ground? Over," Superman spoke, glancing between the screen and console at the same time.

" _It seems that the situation has evolved into a crisis. I can't say for sure the extent of it, though. You'll rendezvous with Captain Theo down there. Over._ "

"Copy that, General. Over and out," Hawkgirl said and turned off the transmission. She turned to Superman and spoke, "Looks like things have gone awry down there."

"When do things never go from bad to worse at our presence, Shayera?" Superman replied.

"True. But still... something seems off about all this."

"We'll know for sure when we get there. Right now, let's keep our eyes and ears open."

Hawkgirl nodded and returned to the controls to listen the transmissions the other Leaguers had with the Watchtower. Superman descended the ship's altitude slowly and turned a bit southeast based on the coordinates he received.

It didn't took them long enough to know that they crossed the border, all in part by the appearance of the Alps and the presence of two jets escorting them to the Grisons Canton.

* * *

"Okay, things seem to have gotten worse than we thought," Bumblebee spoke as she took a long look at her surroundings.

"Yeah, you could say that again," Zatanna replied, stepping out of the ship behind Beast Boy.

They have landed in the outskirts of where the unidentified object was located. The object had a semi-circular shape with ruptures on its sides. Several large fragments laid across the forest and smaller portions were visible on the roads and villages, whereas the colossal part of it extended into the sky hundreds of feet from the ground. The white, ominous structure emitted fog and lightning, its energy converting all vegetation and ground into strange, dark matter.

There were also dozens of military transports and tanks on the road, all of them positioned in a tactical line of defense in front of the forest. Several jets flew above the forest in tight-V formations just as helicopters patrolled all nearby villages from the air. Some soldiers were moving from one checkpoint to another while others patrolled the campsite established near the village. The team assumed it was the command post overseeing the mission and walked towards the tent in the center.

"You're here. Good," a man spoke upon seeing the heroes enter the tent. He was a young man around his late 30s, his face having a combination of worry and frustration that was briefly replaced by relief at the sight of the Justice League. He extended an arm to greet them and said, "Captain Theo Walcott of the 11th Mechanized Brigade, at your service."

"Nice meeting you here, captain," Superman said, grabbing the man's hand to salute him. "What's happening out there?"

"We set up shop here at 0547 hours and evacuated all civilians after setting the perimeter at 0759 hours. We sent two reconnaissance teams to investigate the forest hours ago but have lost contact with them ever since. Attempts to make a direct line of communication have been impossible, suggesting that the signal must be... jammed by some type of machinery."

"Some machinery, huh?" Hawkgirl spoke. "Are you sure they're not just out of range or around a hill that's interfering with the radio waves?"

The man replied, "No, ma'am. These hills aren't high enough to interfere with our frequencies and the range of transmission was increased after Apokolips' invasion. Disruptions in our comms like this shouldn't even happen in the first place."

"He's right," Red Robin spoke. "It would take either a massive structure - such as the one we saw right now- or some high tech aircraft to cause a disruption this big to occur. And based on what I'm seeing, I doubt that both alternatives aren't the reason why it happened."

"Capitaine! Nous avons finalement établi le contact avec Zulu-1, [ **Captain! We finally established contact with Zulu-1,** ]" a woman wearing a communicator on her head spoke to the man in French. She carried a holopad containing the message in her arms and laid it on the table, connecting it to the computer there fast.

"Finalement, [ **Finally,** ]" the man replied to her equally. Then he put on his communicator and spoke, "Zulu-1, c'est l'Avant-Poste de l'Aigle. Quel est ton statut? Plus de. [ **Zulu-1, this is Eagle Outpost. What is your status? Over.** ]"

"(gunshots and shouting) Zulu-1 à Avant-Poste de l'Aigle! Nous avons pris contact avec des formes de vie extraterrestres inconnues et prenons le feu de tous les côtés! Zulu-2 est en panne! Répétez, Zulu-2 est en panne! (explosions) Zulu-1 demander des renforts! Nous avons besoin d'une sauvegarde immédiate vers le bas- (static). [ **Zulu-1 to Eagle Outpost! We made contact with unknown alien life-forms and are taking fire from all sides! Zulu-2 is down! Repeat, Zulu-2 is down! Zulu-1 requesting reinforcements! We need immediate backup down-** ]."

"Zulu-1? Zulu-1, êtes-vous là? Entrez, Zulu-1! [ **Zulu-1? Zulu-1, are you there? Come in, Zulu-1!** ]" the man shouted, trying to reestablish the connection to no avail. He grunted in frustration and spoke to the woman, "Merde! Envoyez-le immédiatement le 7 novembre! C'est maintenant une opération de recherche et sauvetage au combat! [ **Shit! Send out November-7 out there immediately! This is now a combat search and rescue operation!** ]"

The woman nodded and jogged out of the tent towards the designated team for the operation. The heroes were stunned by the transmission but focused their attention to the man when he turned to them, "We'll need your assistance out there as well."

"We'll get on it," Superman spoke. He looked at his companions and said, "Robin, we need you running logistics and be our ears from here. Hawkgirl, Beast Boy and Bumblebee, you three will be our eyes in the sky while Zatanna and I reinforce the rescue team on the ground. Got it?"

"Understood, Superman," Hawkgirl said. "Let's go, now."

With that said, the heroes went out to do their designated tasks and carry out the mission. They all carried a nonchalant expression on their faces, but deep down, in their minds, they were worried about the missing soldiers.

And hoped that they weren't too late to save them...


	4. Chapter 3: First Hostile Alien Contact

Once they left the camp, the heroes walked towards one of the tanks to meet up with the search and rescue team. Upon arrival, they met with a man whose insignia designated him as sergeant and leader of the team, gathering the men and women assigned to the mission in two rows with seven people in each one. The man noticed them and proceeded to greet them.

"I am so glad that you're here to help us," he said, extending one arm to them. "Sergeant Liam Nevio, November-7's squad leader. At your service."

Hawkgirl shook the man's hand and spoke, "It's good meeting you here, sergeant. We're here to offer our assistance in your search for Zulu-1. We hope to bring them back safe and sound."

"I welcome all the help I can get. With that said, it's time we got started," the man said. He turned to his team and spoke in French, "Bon, écoutez tout le monde! Nous sommes rassemblés ici dans un seul but: Nous sommes ici pour localiser et ramener nos camarades de la forêt. EOC a récupéré la dernière transmission de Zulu-1 à quelques klicks près de l'objet, ce qui signifie que nous entrerons là-bas en territoire inconnu. Et soyez attentif au mouvement de l'ennemi. Obtenu que? **[Alright, listen up everyone! We are gathered here for one purpose: We are here to locate and bring home our comrades back from the woods. EOC picked up Zulu-1's last transmission a few klicks near the object, meaning that we'll be entering uncharted territory there. And be alert for enemy movement. Got that?]** "

The soldiers shouted, "Chef, oui, chef! **[Sir, yes, sir!]** "

"Bien. Maintenant, avancez! **[Good. Now march forward!]** "

The team began to march ahead into the forest, with Superman covering their right flank and Zatanna the left. Hawkgirl, Beast Boy and Bumblebee took to the skies and scouted the woods from above, all the while Red Robin assessed the team with logistics from the camp. Every soldier was determined to find their fellow comrades, taking failure at the task as not an option for them.

* * *

Two hours have passed since the mission began and the team had been all but successful. They split up in groups of three and searched every part of the woods, every rock they passed, and every small hill they saw, and in neither of them they have found traces of their comrades. Superman tried using his x-ray vision but found nothing beyond the trees; Zatanna tapped into her magick to see if there were arcane trails left behind, leading to the same result as Superman; and Hawkgirl and Bumblebee couldn't spot any movement due to the forest's vegetation. Everyone was tired from searching a lot, so they rendezvoused in an open space of the woods and sat down. The Sun lit the sky in bright orange, a signal indicating that afternoon had already descended upon them.

The team's leader sighed and wiped the sweat out of his forehead as he drank from his bottle. "This is going nowhere," he muttered to himself, "There's no way they could've disappeared without a trace!"

Superman, hearing the man become more worried than ever, pressed on his communicator and spoke, "Superman to Eagle Outpost. Have you managed to locate Zulu-1's transmitter? Over."

" _This is Eagle Outpost. Our efforts have been all but fruitful. We think the object's energy fluctuations are interfering with the radio waves, hindering all progress to locate them. Over,_ " Red Robin spoke, sighing deeply at the setback.

"Acknowledged. We're resting here for a few minutes and then we'll continue our search before nightfall strikes. Over."

" _Copy that, Superman. Over and out._ "

"It seems that the odds of finding Zulu-1 are against us," the sergeant spoke as he approached the heroes. "Could it be that they disappeared near the object rather than in these parts of the woods and we had been searching the wrong place the whole time?"

"I'm not sure," Superman replied. "But it's starting to look that way."

"Uh, guys?" Zatanna spoke, looking at Superman and Hawkgirl. "Have any of you seen Beast Boy?"

"What? He's not here?" Hawkgirl replied, surprise evident on her face. "I thought he was with you girls. Where could he have gone now?"

Superman looked at Hawkgirl in the eye and opened his mouth to speak. However, before he could answer her question, a hawk screeched in the vicinity, prompting everyone to look up. Its green feathers, beak and talons indicated that it was Beast Boy, as well as how he flew low on the ground and morphed back into his human form, panting deeply from flying too much.

"Beast Boy, where were you?" Zatanna asked, walking towards him. "We were getting worried that something might've-"

"I found them," Beast Boy interrupted, still panting as he sat on a rock.

"What? You mean, you found the missing soldiers?" the sergeant asked Beast Boy. Once the young hero nodded in confirmation, he stepped aside and spoke with his superior in his communicator. After a few seconds of exchanging information, the sergeant approached him and asked, "Do you know their location?"

"Yes," Beast Boy said.

"Then we should move now before the Sun goes down," Superman said.

Everyone nodded at his statement and lifted themselves up from the ground to continue their search. The team marched towards the forest once more, this time in the direction that brought them near the object. Beast Boy told Superman, Hawkgirl, Red Robin and the sergeant that he encountered a medical officer in a clearing near a large fragment of the object after he decided to fly below the trees since he couldn't see anything on the ground from above. He also told them that said location was filled with a 'dark and bright flora' and that the sunlight in there was 'opaque', forcing him to adjust his eyesight upon landing on the ground. When they reached said clearing, they noted that the flora was indeed dark and bright, and that the sunlight's brilliance had been replaced into a gloom mist, illuminated by the constant sparks of lightning emanated by the object and by the flora around them. But what got everyone worked up was the sense of danger that the forest seemed to emit, as if it wanted to corrupt them. Therefore, they remained at high alert for anything suspicious around them.

* * *

After minutes of walking around, they finally stumble upon the clearing Beast Boy described earlier and saw that there was a medical officer attending two wounded soldiers, one being a woman whose arms had burn marks and the other a man with a bone sticking right out of his left leg. The rescue team set up a perimeter around the area as the sergeant and the heroes approached the officer who was handling a portion of gauze in his hands.

"Sergent Nevio! Dieu merci, vous êtes arrivé maintenant! **[Sergeant Nevio! Thank God you arrived now!]** " the officer spoke, feeling relieved that someone came to rescue them.

The sergeant kneeled next to the officer and spoke, "Vous devez faire partie de Zulu-1, non? **[You must be part of Zulu-1, right?]** " The officer nodded and the sergeant continued, "Où est le reste de votre équipe? Où est Zulu-2? Que leur est-il arrive? **[Where's the rest of your team? Where's Zulu-2? What happened to them?]** "

The officer told them that both teams were investigating the woods when, out of blue, they received a signal from somewhere near in the vicinity. Upon reaching one of the larger fragments of the object, the signal was gone and were ambushed by several unknown hostile life-forms accompanied by strange machinery that, according to what he saw, 'empowered the enemy' by rubbing their aura-like energy on them. The officer also told them that his comrades' corpses were savagely mutilated and that the enemy had weapons that had unequivocal tracking capabilities, rendered them cloaking devices, inflicted severe injuries, and made lots of damage towards an impact area. This put everyone deeply on edge than before.

"Damn it," the sergeant spoke, clenching his fist in anger for himself. "We were too late to save them."

"We're sorry for your loss," Superman spoke, putting a hand on the sergeant's shoulder. He then looked at Hawkgirl and said, "It's best to inform Captain Walcott what happened down here."

"Understood," Hawkgirl replied. She tapped her communicator and spoke, "Hawkgirl to Eagle Outpost. We found three surviving members of Zulu-1, but... as for the remainder of their unit and Zulu-2 as well... they didn't make it. We're awaiting instructions. Over."

"(static)"

"Eagle Outpost? Eagle Outpost, can you hear me? Come in!"

"What's going on?" Superman asked.

"I can't raise the outpost on the comms. We must be out of range."

"This happen to us," the officer spoke in broken English. He jogged towards the heroes quickly and continued, "They block transmission and kil-"

A straight, blue projectile cut off the officer and hit him in the head, killing him instantly on the spot. Everyone turned their heads towards the direction of the projectile and saw a four-armed creature wielding what resembled a rifle gun. It wore some type of helmet, robe and armor that carried the colors red and white, though it was covered in reddish-purple blood, most likely from the wound in its chest. The creature hissed and growled repeatedly before raising his weapon in the air and bellowed deeply, its eyes glowing in menacing blue at them. Beast Boy noticed this and thought of it, not long enough as several creatures of the same species appeared out of nowhere and snapped him from his mind. Some had a different type of rifle, others had mysterious pistols, and the remainder of them only had daggers and swords that emitted electricity on their blades. They quickly surrounded the team on all sides and opened fire.

The soldiers began shooting back at the creatures after taking defensive positions behind some trees and rocks on the ground. Superman grabbed a tree and placed himself in front of the survivors while Zatanna summoned a protective stave around them before joining the fight. Hawkgirl and Bumblebee flew towards the creatures and fought them head-on with Beast Boy keeping any of them at bay in his griffin form out in the open. At first, they were heavily outnumbered as more and more kept coming–either dropping off from the top of the trees or coming out of invisible cloaks–, but as minutes passed by, they were getting the upper hand. Two soldiers were shot down while a third one dissipated into oblivion when one of the creatures threw an exploding device at a tree and made volts of blue lightning.

"Don't let up! We're close to beating them!" Hawkgirl shouted, pummeling her sword at one of them and her mace at another.

"I wouldn't count victory yet!" Zatanna said, throwing a boulder forward with her magick. "Here comes a big one now!"

At her remark, a round-shaped object came out of the woods alongside another one of the creatures, the latter being taller than the others. The former emanated a purple aura that seemed to shield the enemy from bullets and other things that were used as weaponry. The object appeared to be a sentient machine when it made several whirring noises towards the remaining creatures, as if it was speaking to them. Again, Beast Boy heard this and didn't have a second to think about it when a projectile hit him in his left arm, forcing him to morph back into his human form. He held his arm where the wound was inflicted and dodged behind a rock as the machine fired a blast of purple energy at him through a part that resembled an eye. Superman noticed the altercation and super-sped towards the machine, breaking it with a strong punch in the process.

"Thanks, dude! It almost had me!" Beast Boy spoke, standing next to him.

"No problem, kid," Superman replied. "But it's not over yet."

As Superman said that, the tall creature drew four swords from his robe and teleported towards the soldiers, taking them by surprise and killing them swiftly. One by one they were picked as they couldn't react in time and dodge away from its reach until Bumblebee intercepted and zapped the creature with her stingers, though her charges were deflected by an invisible blue shield at its body. She dodged the blades three times before being grabbed in the throat and thrown into a tree. Zatanna pushed the creature away from the team with her telekinetic ability as Hawkgirl fought it fiercely, hitting ferociously at the shield before it dissipated. The creature stumbled back and teleported behind Hawkgirl, knocking her out with a bash in the head by using the hilt of one of its swords and throwing her towards Zatanna, knocking her out as well with a kick in the face. Superman and Beast Boy saw the girls getting beaten and the former once more super-sped towards the creature. However, before he could land a hit to the enemy, it teleported on his right side and planted a device on his hip that charged volts of lightning around his body, leaving him crying in agony before receiving an elbow to the face and knocking him down in the process.

Beast Boy ran towards the creature and morphed into a bull in an attempt to ram it down with his horns, to which the latter thwarted off by grabbing both horns with its upper set of arms and lifted his body with the lower set and throwing him into the ground. Beast Boy quickly turned into a monkey and landed on his feet before changing into a tiger and began attacking with his claws. He missed five times the enemy until he managed to wound it in the chest, his claws penetrating the armor and cutting the skin beneath it, drawing blood on his robe. The creature hissed in pain and swung his swords towards the young hero's head a minute too late, for as Beast Boy dodged the lethal blow faster and shifted into a gorilla, where he managed to land several punches into its body and pushed it far away from the other heroes, falling and skidding into the trunk of a nearby tree where two of its lesser companions got him up from the ground. By this point, both of them were panting from their fight and looked each other in the eyes without backing down.

The tall creature growled and hissed, moving his arms back and forth and waving its swords menacingly at him while assimilating a protective stance in front of its companions. Beast Boy observed its movement and realized that the creature was speaking to him in its native tongue. He positioned himself in a combat stance and spoke, "I don't know what it is that you want or why you're here, but you seriously picked the wrong guys to mess with!"

Beast Boy charged at the creature in his buffalo form as the latter followed suit. It teleported behind him and swung its blades towards his chest, missing a few inches as Beast Boy dodged the attack once more and morphed into a kangaroo, landing a few quick punches at its face and a powerful kick into its shoulders, making the creature roll out of the way and lose grip on all its blades. It stood up from the ground abruptly and growled deeply, its eyes glowing more menacing than before. The creature tossed several explosive devices into the trees, creating a smoke screen of discharged electric energy that nullified Beast Boy's heightened senses in the process. It then teleported around him several times, effectively landing hard blows on his torso, face and sides before grabbing his legs and sent him flying around the field. Beast Boy landed on a rock with his back and let out a pained yelp, collapsing on the ground with a hand holding his back as he winced in tremendous pain. He tried to get back on his feet, but the creature jumped towards him and grabbed him by the throat, its grasp tightening with every breath he took.

The creature growled and laughed as Beast Boy struggled to escape its hold, an effort that bore no fruit as the former slammed him to the ground and pulled a knife from his robe, aiming it where the heart is. At this, Beast Boy began to panic and started to think on a way to get out of the situation he found himself in. Then it dawned on him. He knew that it was something he vowed never to do when he started being a hero and only doing it if he was in a dire situation. Unfortunately for his sane judgement, this was a dire situation where he was about to die, so he pushed the thought aside and let his instincts take over.

Before the knife struck home, Beast Boy shifted into a cobra and slithered his way out of the creature's hold and into its upper right arm, plunging his fangs at the exposed skin and delivering the poison into its bloodstream. The creature hissed and tried to grab him once more, whereas Beast Boy moved into its left lower arm and spat venom into its two right eyes, causing the former to screech in pain as the venom began to cloud said area of the face. Beast Boy turned into a hummingbird and flew a few feet away as he changed into a deer and rammed the creature into a tree, plunging a few antlers into its body. The remaining lesser creatures scattered from the area into the woods as the taller creature let out a dying screech and succumbed to its wounds.

Beast Boy changed back to his human form and panted, moving away from the creature's lifeless corpse and helping his teammates to stand up–the first one being Zatanna all the way to Bumblebee being the last–as well as the remaining soldiers of the rescue team. Once the area had been secured again, he fell on his knees and held his left arm tightly, wincing as the pain returned with full force after fighting the taller creature on his own.

"You gonna be okay?" Bumblebee asked, lifting him from the ground and walking slowly towards Zatanna, whom began assessing his wounds.

"Yeah," Beast Boy said, still grimacing in pain. "It's nothing serious, really. You don't have to worry about me."

"Hate to break it to ya, kid, but you're not fooling anyone here," Hawkgirl interjected, rubbing one hand on her head while picking up both of her weapons with the other. "That arm needs to be looked at immediately."

Beast Boy pouted at her and said, "I'm telling you, I don't need-"

"Heads up, everyone! I'm hearing a few choppers nearby!" Superman spoke, getting everyone's attention as he levitated himself from the ground.

"Yeah, and I bet those things are hearing it too," Zatanna said. "We should move before-"

Her words were cut off as more creatures came out of the woods and blocked their escape route, heavily outnumbering them this time and pointing their guns at them in the process. The remaining soldiers lifted their guns at them as well, either side daring to fire first against the other. Superman and Hawkgirl floated on top of them, with Zatanna standing between the soldiers and Bumblebee, while the latter held Beast Boy's right arm through her shoulders and kept him in a protective stance. The creatures growled and hissed as if they were proclaiming another skirmish to them, a thought that sent chills down to Beast Boy's spine.

Then, it happened. His senses made his hair stand on edge as they alarmed him that danger was about to come not from their front view, but from behind. Following his instincts, he gathered whatever strength he had left and pushed Bumblebee from his side quickly as he turned and faced their immediate attacker. However, before he could retaliate, a blade was plunged into his chest, forcing him to fall on the ground and cough for air as a pool of blood began to form around him. Beast Boy looked up and saw that the taller creature he fought moments ago was actually alive and loomed on top of him, putting a foot on his back and squeezing him tightly on his spine.

"BEAST BOY!" Bumblebee shouted, her face filled with horror as she witnessed what was happening after turning towards him. Superman, Hawkgirl and Zatanna gasped as they turned around while the soldiers looked back briefly in shock before returning their sights to the lesser creatures and shooting them once more. Hawkgirl flew towards the taller creature and swung her mace to its head with brute force that pulverized it in pieces and sprayed blood all over. It made a dying shriek as its body spewed a white-gaseous-like substance in the air and fell thunderously on the ground, removing its weight on Beast Boy's back in an instant. Zatanna summoned another barrier around them and siphoned a healing aura on Beast Boy while Bumblebee and Superman aided the soldiers in their fight. They were almost completely overrun until reinforcements arrived in the area, firing missiles to the enemy and deploying more troops on the ground. The creatures screeched and hissed around until the majority of them wounded up dead and the rest fled the area for good.

Three helicopters hovered in the air with their searchlights illuminating the forest around them while one of them landed in the clearing next to the heroes. Its compartment doors slid open and revealed Red Robin standing alongside the captain they met back in the camp hours ago. Both of them got out of the transport and jogged quickly to the others, the former headed to his allies and the latter to his fellow troopers before ordering everyone to head back to outpost at once.

Red Robin inspected Beast Boy's wound quickly and spoke, "We need to get him to the Watchtower immediately!"

"Understood," Superman said, "But can you be able to patch him up while we take him to the Medical Bay?"

"I'll try my best here but, you have to know, there's not much I can do to stop the bleeding with a deep wound like this in his chest. The only thing that's keeping him alive for now is Zatanna's healing aura around him, and that's not enough to heal him completely. We have to act now if we are going to save him."

"I'm on it," Hawkgirl responded. "In the meantime, you three go with him while Superman and I finish up down here with the soldiers."

Zatanna said yes to her and Bumblebee nodded in response. Hawkgirl tapped into her communicator spoke, "Hawkgirl to Watchtower. We need an emergency teleportation this instant. Beast Boy's down. I repeat, Beast Boy's down. Advise all medical personnel in the Med Bay and alert the Flash to standby near the teleporters; Red Robin, Zatanna and Bumblebee will tag along as well. Over."

" _This is the Watchtower. Acknowledged. Fixating on your coordinates and designating warp translocation in 3... 2... 1... 0._ "

Specks of light surrounded the younger heroes as their bodies began to shift into the transcendental energy before disappearing in an instant. Seconds later, they completely left Earth and reached the Watchtower, leaving Superman and Hawkgirl to aid the surviving soldiers and reinforcements back to the Outpost. Both heroes knew that the process would be a slow one, so they moved faster before twilight arrived.

* * *

By the time they were finished, nightfall has fallen on the mountainous region of the Grisons Canton and the 11th Mechanized Brigade has quarantined the forests surrounding the villages from being accessible to civilians. The captain movilized the 11th Armored Engineer Battalion to set up barriers around and told the two Leaguers that he'll inform to General Felix and the Federal Council about the attack at once. They both nodded and said farewell to him, walking towards the Javelin and flying away to the Watchtower. They thought this would be the end of the matter and returned to their ordinary routine of keeping the world safe.

But little did anyone know, there was a third party involved.

Not far away from the clearing, a mysterious figure watched the whole skirmish on top of a cliff near the object. The figure lifted themselves up after collecting an immense amount of combat information regarding the creatures with the soldiers and heroes and left the area, merging to the darkness as one of the creatures stood next to him without a robe and teleported away as well.


	5. Chapter 4: Aftermath & Recovery

" _... over the last few days. Since then, we haven't located any of these supposed four-armed aliens within the Grisons Canton, much less anywhere else in the country._ "

"I understand your frustration, General, but the Justice League is subject to U.N. legislation regarding matters of global secur–"

" _17 of my men were murdered in cold-blood; two of them were gravely wounded in combat, not to mention one of your own members as well, and it all went down under our watch. Our people are afraid that another incident like this one might happen without forewarning, which prompted the Federal Council to declare martial law. We're coming up zero in all our searches - we need the League's assistance down here!_ "

"And you will have it, General. Once all member states of NATO have reviewed the reports and grant us permission to act, we'll come to aid you in your operations. This I can assure you."

"(sigh) _Very well, then. Good day to you, and I hope your guy recovers swiftly from his injury._ "

Martian Manhunter sighed as he held a hand on his forehead in frustration. He sat down in front of the console he was using and returned to work on it just as hears someone walk up to him. He remains typing at the keyboard in the panel when the person spoke, "Was that the head of the Swiss Armed Forces just now?"

Recognizing that it was Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter hummed in agreement. He maintained his sight on the console and spoke, "He was asking the League for support in their search for those creatures."

Green Arrow arched an eyebrow while crossing his arms, "You mean the ones that attacked the soldiers?"

"Yes. According to Hawkgirl, some of them escaped into the woods when Red Robin arrived at their position with a squadron of troops and helicopters firing missiles at them. The report she redacted after the conflict got resolved details how these creatures fought, what kind of tactics and weaponry they used, and the devastating firepower the latter had on them. It was an onslaught down there."

"Yes, Zatanna told me how everyone had a hard time taking the big alien of the pack there. I'm surprised that Beast Boy outlasted it longer than the rest of them - even than Superman, who got elbowed hard in the face after being outmaneuvered and shocked on his side."

Martian Manhunter stopped typing in the console at the mention of Beast Boy's name. He looked at Green Arrow and asked, "How is he?"

Green Arrow opened his eyes in realization and spoke, "Oh, right, I almost forgot about that. They sent me to tell you that he'll make a fine recovery. The doctors completed Beast Boy's surgery, and, with a little support of Doctor Fate's magick, his wound will heal nicely – hell, it might not even leave a scar there."

"That's good to hear," Martian Manhunter said as he got back to work on his own report. He stopped once more and spoke, "Didn't you say you had a meeting with other conglomerates at 10:00 in the morning today, Oliver?"

Green Arrow facepalmed at the reminder, "Oh, shi– what time is it?"

"9:58:20 Pacific Time."

"WHAT?! Crap, I'm late again! Gotta change quickly and use the teleporters to get there faster. Thanks for reminding me of it!"

Martian Manhunter hummed once more and finished writing the report, sending the original one to the U.N. and a copy version of it to Batman. He stepped away from the console and flew towards the Medical Bay to speak with Black Canary, who, alongside Red Tornado, kept watch over a few younger heroes that wanted to see Beast Boy.

 ** _~ Three weeks later ~_**

While everyone was busy dealing with the aftermath of the attack in Switzerland, Beast Boy was laying on a bed in the Medical Bay as the medical androids finished changing his bandages with new ones before leaving to attend the other wounded heroes. The wound on his chest was deep enough that surgery was required to save his life. However, despite the success the surgeons had on the operation, he slipped into a coma due to the impact damaging severely his spinal cord. His figure was a calming one; both his hands laid resting on his sides while his chest rose and fell with every breath he made. The machinery that was currently hooked on him for almost three weeks – the EKG that kept record of his cardiac rhythm alongside the I.V. bags that helped sustain his body and the breathing mask that allowed oxygen to flow inside the lungs – were the only things that helped him stay alive.

Inside the room, next to his bed on the right side, sat Elasti-Girl, who watched over her son with Robotman leaning on the wall behind her and Negative Man sitting on the left side. They were on a patrol mission down in Mozambique, Africa when they received word that Beast Boy was injured in the line of duty. When they got to the Watchtower, Flash was the one who explained to them his condition at the time. The gravity of his injuries stunned the male heroes deeply but affected the heroine greatly as she was the closest of the four to him. She remained close to Beast Boy's bed as the days went by, never leaving the Watchtower at all and stepping out of the room only to refresh herself (both in hygiene and metabolism), waiting for the young hero to wake up from his coma. Robotman and Negative Man watched over the poor woman as they maintained communication with Mento, who couldn't stay with them since he had to hold the fort down in Michigan and keep the crime rate at bay simultaneously, and providing him support whenever he needed it. The entire ordeal has taken a toll on all of them one way or another.

The silent ambient of the room became suffocating enough that Robotman started to speak, "Rita... I know this is a hard thing to accept and one that you don't wanna hear, but... we have to go home."

Elasti-Girl turned her head at him and asked, "What?"

"We have to get back to Michigan. It's been three weeks since they performed surgery on him, and no major complications have occurred throughout his recovery."

She scoffed, "Gar was severely injured while fighting those things. My son – your nephew – almost died in surgery and you expect me to return home?"

"Like I said, this is probably the last thing you wanted to hear right now," he said, looking at Negative Man pleadingly as he added, "Larry, back me up here please."

' _So much for keeping the calm here,_ ' Negative Man thought as he sighed deeply from where he sat. He looked at Elasti-Girl and spoke, "Hate to say it, but Cliff's right. We've been neglecting our duties as heroes for some time now and I can't imagine Steve being happy about that. Besides, Gar is not alone; he has his friends and sister here that are looking after him as well. Trust me, he's in good hands."

Robotman smiled a bit, "See? Larry agrees with me on this."

"Oh, believe me, I don't completely agree with what you said," Negative Man said, "I want to stay here when Gar wakes up as well. Even though you're not wrong about us neglecting our duties as heroes."

The room fell silent once again after they all spoke briefly. Not able to stand the silence for another couple of minutes, Robotman tried to come up with another topic to discuss with them when, suddenly, the door slid open as three young heroes entered the room. The adult heroes turned their heads around and saw that it was Impulse, Red Robin and Miss Martian, whom were visiting the Watchtower alongside their mentors and wanted to check up on Beast Boy.

"Hello," Ms. Martian smiled sheepishly as she spoke, "I hope this isn't a bad time to see my little brother."

Elasti-Girl smiled softly at them, "It's alright, you can come in." She observed the young heroes and spoke, "How have you all been? I know things must be tough for you all as well."

Impulse responded, "Well, things are so not crash right now. We fought against Killer Frost and Silver Banshee, but they got away in the end. Batman was disappointed with our performance too."

"But at least we stopped them from robbing a jewelry store," Red Robin interjected, "That's gotta count for something, am I right?"

Robotman was about to say something until he heard a soft groan inside the room. He looked at the others and saw that they all heard it as well. Then they moved their gaze towards Beast Boy just as he let out another groan, slightly louder than the previous one, and twitched his fingers a few times. At this point, Ms. Martian flew out of the room to alert her uncle and Black Canary while Impulse, Red Robin and the three Doom Patrol heroes kept watch on their friend and kin. A few minutes later, Martian Manhunter and Black Canary entered the room with two medical androids behind them. They began to assess his condition at the same time he opened his eyes slowly and looked around the room, seeing the faces of his friends, the two Leaguers, and his mother and uncles.

"Mmm..." Beast Boy tried to speak, only to find his mouth was covered by a breathing tube that helped bring oxygen to his lungs. One of the androids removed the tube from his throat slowly as to not harm it in the process, making him feel nauseous as his stomach churned around by the movement. It took his entire being to not throw up in his bed, though it didn't go unnoticed by Elasti-Girl, who held a trash bin nearby just in case.

After concluding their examinations, Black Canary proceeded to speak, "How are you feeling, Gar?"

"I feel... like... someone made... shish kebab... from me..." Beast Boy responded, clutching a hand in his chest after he chuckled a bit, "It hurts... to speak normally. What… happened?"

"You... you took a blade to the chest, sweetie," Elasti-Girl spoke, her voice cracking a bit as she added, "Your spinal cord got injured during your mission... and you almost died during surgery..."

Beast Boy turned his head towards his mother slowly in shock, seeing her shed tears as she hugged him carefully but nurturing at the same time, taking in as well the others' gazes. The look in their eyes confirmed to him that it was true, that it really happened and made him freak out at the news. They proceeded to tell him everything that has happened from the moment they got him to the Watchtower to the last few days where Batman and a few Titans, including Impulse and Red Robin dueled against Killer Frost and Silver Banshee. Beast Boy had his mouth slightly ajar and eyes wide open as they told him that he spent three weeks recovering in a comatose state, which made him contemplate on what he had missed out on.

Once they all finished their explanation, Beast Boy frowned in confusion, "But... I don't remember... struggling to breath... or being teleported here..."

"What do you remember, then?" Ms. Martian asked, placing a hand in his shoulder.

"I..." Beast Boy began, trying to memorize the last thing he saw before waking up, "I remember... the sword going through me... the blood falling to the ground... then a heavy weight on me... and distant shouting... and then..."

"And then what?" Red Robin asked, "What else do you remember?"

Beast Boy frowned more as he tried remembering what he experienced while being comatose. Memories came rushing back to his mind, some clear than others and a few of them being blurry, giving him a slight headache that made his brain hurt, though he barely managed not to groan loud about it. However, he opened his eyes wide and remembered something important. He looked straight at his friends, then at the two Leaguers and finally his family before he spoke in a curious tone, "Did anyone… see a person with… blue skin around?"

This took everyone by surprise. Black Canary asked, "What person with blue skin?"

Beast Boy responded, "I was… walking around the Watchtower… seeing you all… but not hearing you. There was no noise… coming from you… and you couldn't notice me…"

"There were… those things… crawling everywhere I went… they saw me and… I saw them back. We fought for hours… until he came… and shot them all down. He… never saw my face… but knew I was there… 'cause he said… this was only the beginning… of what will come…"

Once he let out those words, Beast Boy rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes again. His friends and family didn't want to keep him awake any longer than he should be, so they silently left the room and headed outside. They discussed among themselves about what Beast Boy said and what it meant when they interrupted by the sound of feet running in the hallway. They turned around and saw a man approaching them quickly, a look of distress covering his face. He wore a long-sleeved white t-shirt with grey and black patterns all over his torso and arms, black combat pants and boots, a gun holster wrapped in one leg with a combat knife on the other. When he reached the group, he took deep breaths and regained his composure as he remembered what he was supposed to say.

"Oh, Curtis! What brings you here?" Black Canary said, recognizing the man in question.

"Sorry for intruding, ma'am,'" the man, known as Curtis, spoke in-between quick breaths, "Batman's requesting all heroes in the Watchtower to meet up in the Promenade Area as soon as possible."

"May I ask the reason for his request?" Martian Manhunter asked.

"I'm afraid you'll have to see for yourselves..."

Black Canary and Martian Manhunter exchanged looks just as Curtis proceeded to walk back towards the elevator. Soon, the group followed him and went to the elevator as well, wondering why the Dark Knight was urging every hero to meet up with him and what the emergency was about...

* * *

 **A/N: Finally! After a few months of coming up with the context, I finish and post this chapter! This One is happy with himself!**  
 **If you're curious about the next chapter, please follow me on Twitter! Details are on my profile!**

 **This message will delete in 30 days.**


	6. Chapter 5: Conflict at Earth's Orbit

The air inside the elevator was filled with tension as no one said a word during the short trip towards the Promenade Area. Once they reached the designated floor, the heroes and the soldier walked through the hallway and entered the room. Upon going through the doorway, they saw a small-to-medium sized contingent team of heroes, among them being Green Lantern (Kilowog Ev), Doctor Light and Starfire, standing on the teleporter platforms just as several operators monitored all channel frequencies and dictated several commands and security protocols. Looking on the large window-screen in the room, they saw a transmission feed of two squadrons of Javelins and starfighter jets flying over a ship that seemed to drift in place as smoke and fire covered some areas of its hull, starboard and bow.

Black Canary looked around and saw Batman standing in front of a console, typing furiously at the panel and observing a few preliminary reports from Venus. She approached him and spoke, "Batman. What's going on out there?"

Batman acknowledged Black Canary's presence and stopped typing. He turned towards her and spoke, "We received a transmission from a civilian shuttle on route to Earth. They reported being attacked by a warship upon exiting Venus' upper stratosphere and orbital defense station," he said, turning back to the console and pulling a schematics model of the ship on the screen as he continued, "The transport itself sustained heavy damage on two of its main engines, causing a severe malfunction on its reactor and rendering it immobile in mid-flight. Two battlecruisers and one carrier from the First Fleet are already mobilizing to aid the passengers and crewmembers aboard as we speak."

Black Canary placed a hand under her chin and gave a hum that was low but loud enough to Batman hear her, "I see. Do we have intel on who was responsible or not?"

"No. And to make matters worse, the weaponry used to inflict this much damage was not of human origin, and it doesn't match to any known extraterrestrial race within our database. We're dealing with someone or something new here, which is why I called every hero in the Watchtower to meet up here in the event that a second attack incurs in the rescue operation."

Black Canary nodded at him once she understood what the emergency was about and turned her head to look at the feed. Just as her eyes landed on the screen, the sight of three human warships came into view as it moved steadily towards the civilian shuttle. Everyone turned their focus to the screen and held their breaths as a man spoke in the comms speakers in a rough voice, " _Shuttle T-807, this is the SAC Prometheus. We are en route to assist you. Standby for emergency docking. Over._ "

Another man with a deep voice, " _Copy that, Prometheus. Initiating emergency docking procedures and safety protocols. Over._ "

Nobody in the Promenade Area dared to make a sound for a minute or two until one of the larger ships, the Prometheus, had finally reached the small vessel. They breathed easily once they saw the shuttle attach itself to the warship on its port side and the passengers and crewmembers moving quickly to get out. A medical team was dispatched to aid those that were wounded by the attack, some attending their injuries while others carried stretchers for the ones in critical condition. Black Canary held her chest and sighed in relief while Batman remained unfazed by the ordeal. Soon after, the voices of the operators and heroes echoed throughout the room once more, the latter group being louder than the former.

Martian Manhunter stepped away from the teleporters and walked towards Black Canary and Batman, observing the feed for a moment as he spoke, "Batman. The passengers and crewmembers of the shuttle have all been evacuated. The medical team reports that some of the injured require serious medical attention and are requesting to take them to the Watchtower for further treatment."

"Understood," Batman said, "We'll notify the Medical Bay to prepare a room for the critically wounded and clear one of the land-"

" **WARNING. GRAVITY DISTORTION FIELDS DETECTED. INITIAL ELECTROMAGNETIC READINGS ESTIMATED AT TWELVE ENERGY FLUCTUATIONS.** "

The room fell silent once more as a female A.I. voice followed by the sound of alarms delivers a notification message through the speakers in the room. The entire staff crew sprung to type on their consoles and voice several commands and protocols to assess the situation. Batman pulled a chart on the console he was using and began analyzing the reports alongside Black Canary just as Martian Manhunter returned to the team of heroes present in the room.

Black Canary turned towards Batman, "How much-?"

Knowing what she was going to ask, Batman cut her off and said, "The energy detected at one of the fields equals that of a ship making interstellar travel through warp space."

"In other words, we may be looking either at an incursion or an invasion," Black Canary sighed in frustration as she added, "Looks like your hunch was correct. Again."

"Yes, but now's not the time to argue about it. We have to focus on getting-"

"OW!"

"SORRY!"

Every hero in the room turned their head towards Curtis and saw him standing up while a female soldier remained on the floor, rubbing her back to soothe the force she received from falling to the ground. He profusely apologizes at the soldier and helps her stand up. He then walked towards one of the consoles nearby –which turned out to be the one Batman was using–, pressed a button on the screen and spoke, "SAC Prometheus, this is the Watchtower. Be advised, we're detecting multiple warships of unknown origin headed to your position. Get yourselves out of there. Over."

"(static) _-repeat that? We couldn't-_ (static)"

"Prometheus, come in! Prometheus, come in!" Marcus said, not receiving response from the ship as he added, "Damn it! What's wrong with the comms?"

A male operator spoke, "We don't know, sir. It appears that something's interfering with our comms. We can't reach out to either Python or Cobra as well."

"Sir, we have a visual on one of those fields now," a female operator said, passing the information from her console to the window-screen in the process.

Everyone turned their heads to the feed once more and saw an orb of energy taking form before splitting itself in two opposite blue spikes and disappear as a ship came out of it. The ship in question was large in size and length, carried multiple gun placements, as well as some spikes, on various parts of its hull, and had several wires attached to it in place. The most distinguishable features it bore were the large engine protruding on the rear back of its port side and the large red crimson line matted on it. The screen then splits into twelve transmission feeds, all of them concentrated on the other energy fields and showing the same process as the first with more ships appearing in sight. The screen reconvenes itself into one feed once more and shows a large extraterrestrial fleet moving towards the three warships and their deployed squadrons. All military personnel, including Curtis, began to leave the room and head towards the hangars to prepare their jets just as Martian Manhunter uses the console next to the teleporters and sends Starfire, Green Lantern, Doctor Light, Red Star, Captain Atom, Orion, Supergirl and a newly reprogrammed Amazo into the vacuum of space to assist in repelling the attack. A few minutes later, seven combat squadrons soon joined the heroes side by side and flew towards the warships, preparing their weapons as two extraterrestrial warships were drawing in near the position of one of the human battlecruisers, aligning their cannons to fire in the process.

A male voice echoed throughout the room as he spoke, " _SBC Cobra, this is Lancer Leader. We're closing in on your position now. Minimal ETA is 5 minutes. Over._ "

A female voice responded immediately, "(static) _-Lancer Leader. Be adv-_ (static) _-jamming our signals-_ (static) _-permission to engage. Over._ "

"Jamming signals? Hmm…" Red Robin said to himself, pondering what the female voice said and sitting down on one of the available consoles in the room. He began to type on the keyboard rapidly, looking for anything that could be interfering with the Watchtower's communications just as the other heroes in the room monitored closely the developing situation in the feed.

Meanwhile, Batman was receiving orders from the members of the U.N.'s Security Council to take immediate action after he informed them of a possible alien attack. Once the transmission was over, he pressed the button and spoke, "All ships, this is the Watchtower. You have permission to engage the enemy. I repeat, you have permission to engage the enemy. Over."

" _Copy that, Watchtower. Over and out,_ " the man said before addressing to his comrades, " _Lancer Squadron, form up. We're going in!_ "

And with that, the battle began. Several squadrons comprised of seven jets converged their V–formation into a single line of attack and flew across the alien warships, firing their turrets at their hulls with deadly efficiency and breaking formation into smaller groups. The ships in turn fired their forward cannons at the nearest battlecruiser in sight, an action that prompted their counterparts to fire their own batteries in retaliation with the heroes running interference. Starfire, Supergirl and Captain Atom flew alongside some of the groups of jets to aid them in the fight; Green Lantern and A.M.A.Z.O formed shields around the battlecruiser Cobra and deflected the energy blasts as the vessel returned fire; and Orion, Doctor Light and Red Star flew towards one of the ships and attacked the area that comprised what they considered to be the deck and control room, causing the vessel to tilt downwards slightly before exploding apart. However, despite the sheer firepower the jets, Javelins, heroes and warships used, the hull on the enemy ships suffered minimal to moderate damage as their starboard and port cannons managed to gun down a few pilots into oblivion. The conflict raged on for some time as both sides were sustaining heavy losses, the invaders going from twelve ships to five and Humanity retaining three fighter and Javelin squadrons. The tide of the battle began to sway on Humanity's side as the remainder of the extraterrestrial fleet began to retreat away from Earth, making the heroes chase after them.

Then, in an instant, things took a turn for the worse. As the fleet reconvened outside of Earth's orbital defense range, several orbs of energy formed up and more ships came into view, raising the initial military strength by twenty-four vessels. The fleet began to mobilize towards Earth once more, this time at an alarming pace as it deployed multiple squadrons of lesser shuttles upon entering orbit. The shuttles wore the resemblance of a dragonfly, maintaining the same design of their hulls as their larger counterparts and two crimson red lines matted on the center alongside a few small banners attached to some of the spikes. The shuttles soon deployed what appeared to be two pair of twin cannons below the cockpit and fired blue energy beams at the remaining fighter squadrons and broke formation to give chase against the jets and Javelins. The large fleet broke into two groups of twelve ships, with one marking its course to Earth and the other remaining in battle as support for the lesser shuttles. After passing the Watchtower, the first group splits once more in two formations consisting of six ships and take different routes. The second group formed a ring around the three warships, trapping them into a pit as they fired their ordinance at them. With this sudden development, the tide of the battle began to swing dramatically to the enemy's favor, alarming everyone in the Watchtower in the process.

"(explosions and static) _Lancer Squadron, reg-_ (static) _-too many of them!_ "

"(static) _-got three on my tail-_ (static) _-not gonna -AAH!_ (explosion)"

"(static and rapid gunshots) _-three bogeys down!_ "

"(explosion) _We lost Javelin 53!_ "

"(static) _-Lantern, behind-_ (static)"

" **ALERT. EXTRATERRESTRIAL ATTACK IMMINENT. THREAT LEVEL DESIGNATED: ALPHA. ACTIVATING ALL ORBITAL DEFENSE SYSTEMS.** "

"I need a status report, now!" Batman shouted, gritting his teeth as every remaining hero in the Watchtower, excluding Red Robin, began to board on several Javelins and take flight towards Earth in pursuit of the larger invading ships.

"Twelve enemy ships have managed to breach our defense barrier, sir. The other twelve have outmaneuvered our warships and trapped them in a fire zone," one of the male operators spoke.

"What about the First Fleet? Do we still have our channels open?"

Another female operator responded, "None, sir. Our transmissions don't seem to reach out towards the remainder of the fleet. We're completely cut off."

"Batman. We have a plausible set of coordinates now," Red Robin said, passing the holographic map from the console to the large screen next to the feed as he added, "Based on the trajectory of the enemy, they're headed to attack the U.K. and the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. I'm still trying to find a way to reestablish our comms and determine what's jamming our signals."

"Good," Batman replied before addressing everyone else, "Someone inform the British and Russian Armed Forces of the impeding attack. I'm going out there." He stood up and began to walk towards the hangar, stopping slightly as he spoke to Red Robin, "I'm leaving you in charge of monitoring the feeds."

Red Robin nodded and returned to type on the console. Batman reached the hangar and jumped on the Batwing, and soon enough, he was on his way to help the trapped warships and heroes in the vacuum of space. Everyone in the Watchtower observed the feed momentarily before returning to their posts, thinking if Humanity would get embroiled in a war once more.

* * *

Little did anyone know…  
… the war had already begun…


End file.
